Abstract
Introduction:Breast cancer is a major threat to women’s health and a common factor that can reduce their life expectancy. Complementary medicine such as reflexology is known to reduce fatigue severity in cancer patients. The present study aimed to cultivate the effect of reflexology on fatigue severity of patients with breast cancer. Methods:The present pre-post clinical trial recruited 57 patients with breast cancer and involved an experimental and a control group. All patients were livening in Ilam, Iran. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups of experimental (N=27) and control (N=30). The experimental group received reflexology for 4 sessions. Data were collected using Fatigue severity scale (FSS) and demographic information questionnaire. FSS was completed by the patients twice; before the intervention and 2 months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS and running t-test and ANOVA. Results:Results showed no significant difference in fatigue severity between experimental (45.44±5.30) and control (43.66±7.68) groups prior to the intervention (p>0.05). However, after conducting the intervention, a significant difference in fatigue severity was seen between the experimental (20.66±4.54) and control (40.36±9.58) groups (p=0.000). Conclusion:The present study showed that reflexology decrease fatigue severity in patients with breast cancer and community health nursing can to use of these complementary medicine to increase patients health conditions.
Highlights
Breast cancer is a major threat to women’s health and a common factor that can reduce their life expectancy
The present study showed that reflexology decrease fatigue severity in patients with breast cancer and community health nursing can to use of these complementary medicine to increase patients health conditions
The present study showed that reflexology decreased fatigue severity in patients with cancer, which is similar to findings reported by the previous studies, suggesting that reflexology can improve the general health of patients
Summary
Breast cancer is a major threat to women’s health and a common factor that can reduce their life expectancy. Complementary medicine such as reflexology is known to reduce fatigue severity in cancer patients. Results: Results showed no significant difference in fatigue severity between experimental (45.44±5.30) and control (43.66±7.68) groups prior to the intervention (p>0.05). Conclusion: The present study showed that reflexology decrease fatigue severity in patients with breast cancer and community health nursing can to use of these complementary medicine to increase patients health conditions. Breast cancer is a major threat in particular to women’s health and a common risk factor that can decrease life expectancy among sufferers (Parkin et al, 1999). In most regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, it is among the most important methods of care and treatment available to patients (Zargarzadeh and Memarian, 2013)
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